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Formendacil · 04-12-2021, 01:49 PM

A thought that has occurred to me on the "why didn't Sauron use plague again?" front--apart from the obviously double-edged swords points already mentioned--is a bit tangential.

Do we know when the Black Breath first started?

A quick visit to Tolkien Gateway and the Encyclopedia of Arda reveal that the articles on both are brief. Wracking my brains... I can't think of any instances of the Black Breath prior to the period around The Lord of the Rings. Now, it's probably a stretch to suggest that the Black Breath is a viral pathogen, given that it certainly seems to be more of a supernatural malady than a psysiological illness, but what if it didn't come about until sometime later in the Third Age?

I don't think it can be NEW as of the War of the Ring, since Aragorn knows how to treat it and my impression of "The Houses of Healing" is that its treatment with athelas--i.e. not just the Hands of the King--is something that Aragorn thinks a learned herbmaster ought to once have known.

So... if it's:

Post-the Great Plague
Associated with the Nazgûl
Far enough back that it's old lore
And better remembered in the North than Gondor

...then I think it might have been rolled out during Angmar's war with and destruction of Arnor.

This is entirely speculative, of course, but it does strike me as plausible that IF Sauron had a hand in the Great Plague that he MIGHT THEN have developed the Black Breath. Could he have looked out over the devastation of the Great Plague and (keying a little off Hui's imagery of an internally-divided Gondor) as well as the devastation of his own human realms and thought "well, that's a lot of carnage on my side... but I really like the internal division and fear this wrought on Gondor. I wonder if I could bottle that..."

The obvious place, then, to roll out "the Plague 2.0: the Supernatural Edition" is in Angmar. The Witch-king is his chief servant able to be a proxy in something supernatural and the war with Arnor achieves one of his major goals in the long game. Turns out, a limited, supernatural and directed plague that doesn't rebound on your own forces doesn't work as widely as a germ-driven plague--without a Nazgûl around, there's no transmission. Perhaps it plays a role in the fall of Fornost, but although it is part of the Nazgûl's dread effect thereafter, it's mostly a dead until unless Sauron can figure out how to "aerosolise" it.

He actually figures this out with the War of the Ring: the foremost purpose of the Wingéd Nazgûl seems, to me, to be able to spread the shadow of dread--i.e. the Black Breath--over Gondor's entire army. The benefit of providing an anti-Eagle strikeforce might have been an inspiration--and certainly helps defeat the "why didn't they take the Eagles?" arguemtn--and Sauron does make use of them as messengers, but the biggest martial use of them is clearly spreading dread at the siege of Minas Tirith.

Wild mass speculating... but not crazy, right?

04-12-2021, 01:49 PM	#8
Formendacil Dead Serious Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Perched on Thangorodrim's towers. Posts: 3,347	A thought that has occurred to me on the "why didn't Sauron use plague again?" front--apart from the obviously double-edged swords points already mentioned--is a bit tangential. Do we know when the Black Breath first started? A quick visit to Tolkien Gateway and the Encyclopedia of Arda reveal that the articles on both are brief. Wracking my brains... I can't think of any instances of the Black Breath prior to the period around The Lord of the Rings. Now, it's probably a stretch to suggest that the Black Breath is a viral pathogen, given that it certainly seems to be more of a supernatural malady than a psysiological illness, but what if it didn't come about until sometime later in the Third Age? I don't think it can be NEW as of the War of the Ring, since Aragorn knows how to treat it and my impression of "The Houses of Healing" is that its treatment with athelas--i.e. not just the Hands of the King--is something that Aragorn thinks a learned herbmaster ought to once have known. So... if it's: Post-the Great Plague Associated with the Nazgûl Far enough back that it's old lore And better remembered in the North than Gondor ...then I think it might have been rolled out during Angmar's war with and destruction of Arnor. This is entirely speculative, of course, but it does strike me as plausible that IF Sauron had a hand in the Great Plague that he MIGHT THEN have developed the Black Breath. Could he have looked out over the devastation of the Great Plague and (keying a little off Hui's imagery of an internally-divided Gondor) as well as the devastation of his own human realms and thought "well, that's a lot of carnage on my side... but I really like the internal division and fear this wrought on Gondor. I wonder if I could bottle that..." The obvious place, then, to roll out "the Plague 2.0: the Supernatural Edition" is in Angmar. The Witch-king is his chief servant able to be a proxy in something supernatural and the war with Arnor achieves one of his major goals in the long game. Turns out, a limited, supernatural and directed plague that doesn't rebound on your own forces doesn't work as widely as a germ-driven plague--without a Nazgûl around, there's no transmission. Perhaps it plays a role in the fall of Fornost, but although it is part of the Nazgûl's dread effect thereafter, it's mostly a dead until unless Sauron can figure out how to "aerosolise" it. He actually figures this out with the War of the Ring: the foremost purpose of the Wingéd Nazgûl seems, to me, to be able to spread the shadow of dread--i.e. the Black Breath--over Gondor's entire army. The benefit of providing an anti-Eagle strikeforce might have been an inspiration--and certainly helps defeat the "why didn't they take the Eagles?" arguemtn--and Sauron does make use of them as messengers, but the biggest martial use of them is clearly spreading dread at the siege of Minas Tirith. Wild mass speculating... but not crazy, right? __________________ I prefer history, true or feigned. Last edited by Formendacil; 04-12-2021 at 01:50 PM. Reason: Close punctuation marks.